Equipping the next generation of conservative leaders (ft. Jamil Jivani)
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Summary
Jamil Javani, the new president of the Canada Strong and Free Network, joins us to talk about the organization's new leadership development program, Conservative Values Tomorrow, and the need for a conservative presence on Canadian campuses.
Transcript
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I'm here at the Canada Strong and Free Network's 2023 conference with its president, Jamil Javani,
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somebody who's well known in Canada's conservative movement.
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Last year, in June, Jamil became the new president.
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And one of the things that he has done since he's taken over is several initiatives to engage young conservatives,
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which I think is very important as a young person.
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And so I thought today we could discuss some of these things.
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But first of all, for those who maybe don't know the Canada Strong and Free Network, Jamil,
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can you maybe tell us a bit about this organization and why this conference is so important?
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Yeah, well, the organization was started 15 years ago.
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And it's really been an important way for conservatives to connect with each other,
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build a community, build relationships outside of political parties.
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A lot of Canadians would identify as conservative on certain issues, on their political views,
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but might not feel like a political party represents them every single time.
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And that's why we create an opportunity for us to connect based on our beliefs,
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not necessarily based on our party affiliation.
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Why, for you, was it important to take on these new initiatives that CSFN had not done before for young conservatives,
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such as the Conservative Values Tomorrow program?
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Well, one, I mean, if conservative, you know, the conservative movement wants to have a future,
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it has to be relevant to millennials and Gen Zers.
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But also, I think there's a lot of wisdom in past generations.
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So we think of people like Stephen Harper, like Preston Manning, and that wisdom needs to live on.
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And so we want to build the generational connection so that young people can learn from the past
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So, Fleet, can you tell me more a bit about the conservative values tomorrow?
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We've heard a lot about this at the conference.
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Well, we call it a leadership development program.
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What we do is we take a relatively small number, about 12 to 15 young conservatives from across the country under the age of 30,
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many of whom are still students, and we mentor them.
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We match them up with people who have experience in the areas of public policy that they're also excited about.
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And we try to, you know, build a pathway of what we would call a talent development, right?
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Make sure that you're supported in becoming an expert, make sure you build a network, make sure you feel encouraged,
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and try to put you in a position to make a difference for the country.
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We intend to do another cohort in the spring, and it's the thing I'm most excited about in this job, to be honest.
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For sure, and I was one of the people in the first cohort, and it was definitely a great experience.
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For anybody that's watching that may be interested, how and when can they apply?
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Well, just stay tuned on our website, canadastrongandfree.network.
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Sign up for our email listserv, and we'll be announcing the new application round at some point in the spring.
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If you're under 30 and you're a conservative, please join us.
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I did want to ask, too, an organization in the U.S. that's done quite a good job at mobilizing young people is DreamPoint USA.
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They have a lot of campus work, and then they have these huge conferences.
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Has CSFN considered maybe doing campus networks?
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Because from what I hear, a lot of partisan campus clubs just are not doing that job.
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Yeah, there are some very good ones, and we are happy to work with them.
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We do recognize there does need to be more of a conservative movement presence on campuses, and it's something we want to do.
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Our hope is by doing this mentorship work, we're going to build out our network of students and let them lead the way.
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Show us how do we be more relevant to university students, to college students.
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Because while there are young conservatives, there's also a lot of young, woke leftists who are having a lot of influence in universities, for example.
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They just got a guest lecturer fired in George Brown College because she quoted something that had the N word in it, for example.
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Are you optimistic about the future of the younger generation, despite the fact that there's a lot of wokeness?
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Well, look, I think I'm meeting a lot of young people who are rebels, who are people who want to push back on the institutions and are not serving their generation well.
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So I think young people are seeing that wokeness is failing them, and it's just a matter of time before more of them say, you know what, where can I go to have my voice heard?
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And they're going to see that organizations like ours are where you can go.
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It might take more time than we'd like, but I'm very confident that, you know, it's just a matter of time before we're the victors.
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Right, and I'm confident we will beat wokeness, too.
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